“I don’t want any trouble,” Stanley said.
Zigzag pushed him hard. “Eat my cookie,” he said.
Stanley was glad to see Mr. Pendanski coming toward them, along with Zero.
“Hi, Mom,” said Armpit. “We were just fooling around.”
“I saw what was going on,” Mr. Pendanski said. He turned to Stanley. “Go ahead, Stanley,” he said. “Hit him back. You’re bigger.”
Stanley stared at Mr. Pendanski in astonishment.
“Teach the bully a lesson,” said Mr. Pendanski.
Zigzag hit Stanley on the shoulder with his open hand. “Teach me a lesson,” he challenged.
Stanley made a feeble attempt to punch Zigzag, then he felt a flurry of fists against his head and neck. Zigzag had hold of his collar with one hand and was hitting him with the other.
The collar ripped and Stanley fell backward onto the dirt.
“That’s enough!” Mr. Pendanski yelled.
It wasn’t enough for Zigzag. He jumped on top of Stanley.
“Stop!” shouted Mr. Pendanski.
The side of Stanley’s face was pressed flat against the dirt. He tried to protect himself, but Zigzag’s fists slammed off his arms and pounded his face into the ground.
All he could do was wait for it to be over.
Then, suddenly, Zigzag was off of him. Stanley managed to look up, and he saw that Zero had his arm around Zigzag’s long neck.
Zigzag made a gagging sound, as he desperately tried to pry Zero’s arm off of him.
“You’re going to kill him!” shouted Mr. Pendanski.
Zero kept squeezing.
Armpit charged into them, freeing Zigzag from Zero’s choke hold. The three boys fell to the ground in different directions.
Mr. Pendanski fired his pistol into the air.
• • •
The other counselors came running from the office, the tents, or out on the lake. They had their guns drawn, but holstered them when they saw the trouble was over.
The Warden walked over from her cabin.
“There was a riot,” Mr. Pendanski told her. “Zero almost strangled Ricky.”
The Warden looked at Zigzag, who was still stretching and massaging his neck. Then she turned her attention to Stanley, who was obviously in the worst condition. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing. It wasn’t a riot.”
“Ziggy was beating up the Caveman,” said Armpit. “Then Zero started choking Zigzag, and I had to pull Zero off of Zigzag. It was all over before Mom fired his gun.”
“They just got a little hot, that’s all,” said X-Ray. “You know how it is. In the sun all day. People get hot, right? But everything’s cool now.”
“I see,” the Warden said. She turned to Zigzag. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you get a puppy for your birthday?”